Yemu felt like his body had been tossed into a washing machine—spinning, crashing, slamming into everything around him. The pain was so intense he almost wished he were dead.
"Ugh..."
He had no idea how long the chaos lasted, but eventually, the spinning stopped, and he landed solidly on the ground.
Even so, Yemu collapsed immediately and began to vomit. All the seafood he had just eaten came up, along with a stomach full of bile.
Still, despite everything, he was alive. And though his entire body ached, he was surprised to find he could still move.
"Looks like this body isn't so bad after all!"
In the world of pirates, being able to take a beating was an essential skill.
After catching his breath, Yemu forced himself upright and anxiously felt his chest.
Thankfully, he had held onto the Devil Fruit the entire time. Knowing how important it was, he had clutched it to his chest even at the risk of death.
But now...
Looking around the dim surroundings, he couldn't make out much. It felt like he was inside a cavern of some kind.
"I must be in the belly of the Master of the Sky."
"What do I do now? How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?"
Yemu's mind was a blank. He had no idea what to do. Feeling the Devil Fruit still in his arms, he made up his mind.
"Screw it. First things first—eat the Devil Fruit. It'll keep me from starving and maybe give me the power I need to escape."
With that, he stopped hesitating. Guided by touch in the darkness, he began peeling away the pineapple-like skin of the Devil Fruit and slowly bit into it.
"Ugh... this stuff is nasty."
The moment it hit his tongue, it was like chewing on raw garbage. He nearly spat it out, but reminded himself this was an invaluable Devil Fruit—and he was starving. Pinching his nose, he forced it down in gulps.
"Aaah..."
Once he'd swallowed the last bite, he exhaled deeply, feeling as though something inside him had been released.
Then he froze, waiting to sense the changes in his body.
The first thing he noticed was that all his pain was gone. It was as if he'd just taken some divine elixir—his injuries vanished in an instant.
Then came a strange stirring from within. As the fruit settled in his stomach, he felt a pulse of power spreading from deep inside him to every cell in his body, ready to erupt.
Yemu didn't fight the surge.
Boom!
In an instant, his entire body ignited into roaring flames. The fire lit up the dark space like a torch.
"This is it! Ace's Mera Mera no Mi—it's really mine now! Hahahahaha!"
Yemu was overcome with excitement, unable to contain the joy bursting in his chest. The sensation flowing through his body was unlike anything he'd ever felt.
He could feel it—his whole being had transformed into fire. The blaze roared, yet he felt no heat at all.
But the flames didn't last long. He could feel his stamina draining rapidly the longer they burned.
Seeing this, Yemu immediately understood.
So that's it—the power of a Devil Fruit definitely depends on the user's stamina.
"No, I can't keep burning through my stamina like this. There's nothing to eat inside the Master of the Sky's stomach—if I run out of energy, how the hell am I supposed to escape?"
Yemu tried to control the flames on his body. Although he could clearly feel the fire was a part of him now, it wasn't easy to rein it in.
After several exhausting minutes, he finally managed to extinguish the flames and return to human form. Thankfully, he did it in time—but even so, the effort left him completely winded.
"Huff... huff..."
It took him a while to catch his breath.
"No... I've got to get out of here first."
The thrill of awakening his new power faded, and Yemu quickly sobered up.
If he stayed inside the Master of the Sky until he was drained of all strength, he'd still end up dead.
So, cautiously, he lit a flame on one fingertip and used it to look around.
Unfortunately, the inside of the ruler's stomach was a chaotic mess, and he had no sense of direction.
After thinking it over, Yemu chose a direction and began walking along the lining of the creature's stomach, silently praying.
"Please, let me be heading toward the head... not the butt!"
The Master of the Sky seemed to be resting—his body was completely still—which allowed Yemu to keep moving steadily forward. Before long, he reached the upper section, and a beam of light came into view.
"Yes! Thank you, heavens, you're on my side!"
Overjoyed, Yemu rushed toward the light. But just as he reached the throat area, the Master of the Sky suddenly began to convulse violently. Yemu lost his balance, but he refused to be thrown back, so he grabbed onto the serpent's tongue and...
...
After hearing Yemu's warning, Enel had taken off in the direction they came from. But after running for several minutes with no sign of movement behind him, an uneasy feeling crept into his chest.
A part of him wanted to turn back and check—but just the thought of that massive creature made his legs tremble.
"What do I do? What do I do?"
He asked himself over and over again, until his eyes unconsciously fell on the Devil Fruit in his arms. He remembered what Yemu had told him.
"As long as you eat the Devil Fruit, you'll gain superhuman strength."
"Maybe... if I eat it, I'll be strong enough to fight the Master of the Sky."
Without hesitation, Enel took the Devil Fruit from his chest and swallowed it whole. In the next moment, he felt power surge through him—he could control lightning. The sensation of power coursing through his body was overwhelming, especially for someone who had always felt weak.
That rush gave him courage. For the first time, he dared to face the Master of the Sky head-on.
When Enel returned to where they'd encountered the beast, he found it coiled up with its eyes closed, seemingly at rest—and even burping.
The sight made Enel's blood boil.
They had only known each other for half a day, but he already felt a strange bond with Yemu, the boy from the Blue Sea who was the same age as him. And when Yemu had talked about becoming sworn brothers, it struck a chord deep in Enel's lonely heart. For the first time, someone had offered him warmth and companionship.
Enraged, Enel summoned his barely controlled lightning and struck at the Master of the Sky's head. But unfortunately, he was still far from mastering the power of the Goro Goro no Mi, and the bolts he launched were little more than an itch to the massive creature.
Still, that itch was enough to provoke it.
Its eyes snapped open, and with a roar of fury, it lashed its massive tail straight at Enel.
Enel, still unable to use elemental transformation, could only stare in horror as the colossal tail—swift and powerful like a bolt of lightning—came crashing down toward him.
And he could do nothing but wait for death to arrive...